


The Burden of Control

by SlytherinPride2292



Category: High-Rise (2015)
Genre: Dom/sub, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Mental Health Issues, Psychological Horror, Sexism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-10-31 20:18:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10906728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherinPride2292/pseuds/SlytherinPride2292
Summary: Alexis is a strong-willed, hard-working psychologist with a case of insomnia. Laing works in the department of physiology, a floor beneath her. When Laing invites her to a party in the High Rise on the 40th floor, it opens up the opportunity for she and him to begin a relationship built on commonality, trust, and provocative interests.





	1. A Fateful Attraction

**Author's Note:**

> This story entails a bit of everything: Autopsies, Dom/Sub concepts, explicit language, sexist/misogyny, mental health disorders, chaos--everything one would expect from a story written in the High Rise. Alexis is my OFC, based on my own personal interests and background.

Chapter One: A Fateful Attraction

It was another party in the High-Rise. There was always a party. What Laing found special about this one was that he was meeting someone here. The party took place on the 40th floor, and he couldn’t have been more excited. Dressed in his formal wear of black tie and pants and a white shirt, he was constantly searching the room for any sign of her. He stood like a wall flower, keeping to the outskirts of the party so he could survey the scene. Royal, who had invited him to the gala ‘just for fun’, had offered—more or less insisted—that he invite a date. 

Laing had arrived alone, but he had done as Royal had asked of him. Now, it was just a matter of waiting to see if she would accept it or not. He had asked her politely, suggesting that she come to the High Rise and see what life was like in the 24/7 party building. She had mentioned to him during one of their lunches that she had always been interested in renting an apartment there, but due to the many negative rumors, she had regularly talked herself out of it, despite having the financial means to live on the higher floors.  
This had been the opportune moment, almost a miracle for him to summon some courage to ask her out. He’d done so confidently, offering her to come but not forcing it upon her. She wouldn’t have felt so obliged, although Laing was certain she had been eager. The imploring look she always seem to give him, those ‘come, chase me’ eyes made him think so.

Even in the raucous company around him, Laing could detach himself from his surroundings, thinking about her. She had brilliant green eyes, the emerald gems of a crown jewel, so rare to capture in the light that if one were able to, they’d almost appear teal. She regularly wore dark eyeliner, making those rare emeralds larger, more expressive, and he liked it. 

Not many women made him flustered. With her, he felt flustered, indeed, but it was the urgency in the way his mind quickly succumbed to thoughts so devious, so sinful, that he had to calm himself after being relieved of her presence, only to crave her company once more. Admittedly, even while he and his ex-wife had been in the best parts of their relationship, Laing had a fleeting fantasy of pushing himself deep inside Alexis, and not his wife. 

During those few and far in between moments when his marriage flourished in its six month prime, Laing had fantasized what sex with his colleague would be like. Would those soft pink lips part and whisper his name in heated lust or scream in agonizing blissful torture? Would her warm, tight pussy be slick after hours of foreplay or would she crave him so desperately to forgo the teasing altogether to have him inside her? 

Laing took a long drink of the champagne having been provided by Royal and chased the dilettante for a second glass to relieve the dryness in his mouth. He returned back to his spot near the pillar, hand in pocket, drink in hand as he surveyed the room again to be sure he hadn’t missed his opportunity to greet Alexis during the time he’d reminisced his mini daydream. 

“Did you come alone?” 

Laing quickly glanced towards the rough, German accent speaking to him and saw owner standing as though he miraculously appeared out of thin air. Slightly startled by Royal’s sudden appearance, Laing cleared his throat, smiling modestly—confident as usual.

“Not exactly,” Laing replied vaguely.

“Extended an invitation, I hope?” Royal asked. 

Laing nodded.

As if knowingly, Royal questioned with a smirk, “So...who is she?”

Of course, leave it to Royal to figure that one out, thought Laing. Royal seemed to guess a lot of things, know a lot of things too. Dressed in the usual white-on-white chic, the elderly, tailor-suited gentleman always seemed prepared for a royal ball or the next trip to a Florida beach house. 

“A colleague,” Laing answered. 

Intrigued, Royal followed Laing’s eyes to the entrance where upon the mystery girl might appear. Laing took note of this, realizing that Royal was waiting for a more detailed biography of his enigmatic possible guest.

“Her name is Alexis Branshaw,” Laing told Royal, who nodded with interest.

“Physiologist?” Royal tried to guess her profession.

“Psychologist,” Laing corrected, smiling though. “She works on the floor above mine, teaching.”

“Professor of Psychology can do much for this place,” Royal chuckled derisively, indicating the poor sport of drinking that was taking place on the terrace—the lot of guests were playing squash while drinking alcohol and it was turning out to be an intense game of mediocrity and drunken stupidity. 

Laing chuckled, saying, “I don’t doubt it.”

“Ah,” Royal mused, “So I take it that she’s pretty good at her job, then?”

“Yes,” Laing said with a nod, “She’s brilliant.”

Royal chuckled saying, “You don’t just admire this woman, do you, Dr. Laing?”

“How do you mean?”

That knowing elastic smile appeared on Royal’s face again and earned Laing a mysterious wink, as if Royal saw the illicit images that had only appeared in Laing’s mind ten minutes ago. Laing shifted restlessly on this feet as he continued to gaze at the doorway, feeling compelled to search for her. It was becoming an obsession, his eyes constantly darting to the door, expecting her to appear.

Laing was certain she had wanted to come. Even if it hadn’t been for the tentative interest in the High-Rise, she had flirted with him in the most subtle but noticeable of ways. Her hand had coincidentally fell on his shoulder and wrist as she playfully teased him about his teaching methods on the cadavers, only to offer to come and see those demonstrations because—as she put it—she “wanted to see what he could do with his hands”. Laing had noticed that her soft double entendres shamelessly spoken to him had only started after learning of his divorce. In a way, this was just another reason for Laing to have separated from his ex-wife—the bickering, the constant arguments...Laing thought these were all valid points to have left her, but perhaps there had been a better silver lining to it after all.

Laing was free to pursue his fantasies...as long as she would allow him to do so.

“Does she live here?” Royal seemed to shout in order to break Laing out of his reverie.

Laing looked at Royal. 

“No,” Laing answered smoothly. “She’s told me she has been wanting to investigate though.”

“A tenant recently left,” Royal informed him. “She could have that one if she wanted.” 

“That’s generous of you,” Laing noted curiously. 

Royal shrugged saying, “I haven’t much need for generosity, Laing. The High-Rise is my baby, and I must give it only the necessities it demands, and tenants—I daresay—is one of them. When is she due to arrive?”

“I’m not sure,” Laing returned, and of that, he was most certain. 

There was a slow waltz being played by the string quartet, the violins creating absolutely beautiful music that would make a songwriter yearn for the skill to compose something so brilliant. Laing felt his heart leap as the violinists caught a high pitched but skillfully played note with the longest stroke of the the rod.  
And just as he thought Alexis wouldn’t show, he saw her immediately as she arrived through the door. She was normally dressed in a slick, ebony and blue violet pant suit or a white blouse and a black knee-high skirt, but for tonight’s gala, per the formality of it, Laing watched Alexis enter the room in a skin-tight blood-red cocktail dress, one thick strap clinging to her shoulder while the other remained bare and exposed to the comfortable air conditioning. Laing inhaled sharply, glancing at her toned tanned legs and the open-toed, newly polished black, two-inch heels. And then he managed to sigh deeply when he noticed the subtle mixed expression of confusion, fascination, and excitement on her face. 

Laing promptly met his way over to her, smiling widely when she recognized him and waved. He noticed that she had her usually straight shoulder-length hair was pulled up in a fashionably French-braided plait, exposing her neck. Seeing her collar bone and the fine lines of her neck, Laing felt the irresistible need to know what she tasted like. Pushing those urges aside, he held his arm out comfortably to her and she took it happily.

“This place is so huge,” Alexis uttered just loudly enough where he could hear her over the music but no one else could hear. “It’s like a fucking maze.”  
Having only ever associated with Alexis in the workplace, Laing found it very strange but titillating to hear her curse. Trying to ignore the tingling sensation in his pants, he guided her to the dilettante, who happily greeted her with a glass of champagne. She took it gracefully in her right hand, her left still holding Laing’s arm. 

She appeared so calm and excitable but Laing could feel the grip on his arm. As a psychologist, she could physically remove any discomfort from her face to appeal and reassure her patients that whatever they told her would be accepted (even if she didn’t fully agree with their bias or opinions). Despite her lack of tolerance for animal abusers, for instance, Alexis could speak eloquently to a man who allegedly murdered his cat because it scratched his couch—even though Laing knew she really wanted to bury the bastard in a graveyard up to his head and mow it over with a weed wacker.

The psychologist who was so well put together and carried herself with a reasonably calm disposition was gripping Laing’s arm with such a vice that her knuckles were white. Alexis was uncomfortable with this sort of crowd, and Laing couldn’t blame her—while her patients could trust her, Alexis trusted no one...not even herself.

“I’m glad you came,” Laing began, hoping to ease her uncomfortable affliction with conversation, “I was thinking you wouldn’t show.”

Alexis looked at him, saying lightly, “I’d have come along sooner if it hadn’t been for the dreadful parking. I had to walk about 500 meters before I even arrived at the front door! It’s a madhouse out there.”

Laing chuckled. The parking lot was always swarming with vehicles—and it was one of the many cons that surrounded the lifestyle of the High-Rise.

“Am I really that late?” Alexis inquired as she watched a lot of the guests drinking Royal out of house and home. “A lot of them are drunk already.”

“You’re early, actually,” Laing reassured, following her gaze to those who were teetering over and dramatically laughing in volume. 

A table turned over as a fight ensued between two gentlemen wearing tuxedos, presumably over a woman who was now lying on her back, laughing her ass off. Two more men attempted to intervene on someone’s behalf, although it was unclear as to which side they were trying to aid. When the fight continued and seemed to be getting more outlandish, Royal’s aide, a man by the name of Simmons, swaggered over in an equally drunken state and with brute strength flung them into the nearby elevator and punched the button with the arrow facing downward. 

Laing glanced apologetically at Alexis, who eyed the entire spectacle with indifference. It wasn’t the first time she had encountered intoxicated madness, and it would hardly be the last. 

“Is that a horse?” Alexis exclaimed, her jaw dropping as she wandered over to the terrace to see Royal’s wife, Ann, wowing the guests with her display of horse riding. The woman wore a tight dress, tighter than the one on Alexis, and rode side-saddle on the horse as though she was the queen of England. Then again, Laing was certain Ann thought she was royalty.

“I’m afraid so,” Laing heard Royal sigh in disappointment.

Still holding onto Laing’s arm, Alexis and Laing turned in Royal’s direction. Laing, who knew the man, simply smiled as he presented his mysterious invitee to Royal as proof of his predilection. Taking the implication mild-mannered, Royal grinned politely at Alexis. 

“Charmed,” Royal told her, offering his hand. 

She shook it wordlessly.

“Not a trusting person, is she?” Royal chuckled as he watched her eyes narrow as though sizing him up. “Are you psychoanalyzing me, darling?”

Laing watched Alexis scrutinize him further. Her eyes looked him up and down in an investigative manner. Despite her lack of emotion, Alexis appeared more or less amused and after a moment of watching him, she cracked a grin.

“If you wish for me to properly analyze you,” Alexis told him coolly, “I’d have to give you formidable psychological tests to include MMPI and a MCMI.” 

The men stared at her.

“It’s like a personality test, but more valid and accurate,” she clarified helpfully.

“Spitfire,” laughed Royal as he smacked Laing joyfully in the arm, “I like it!”

Laing grinned, rubbing his arm, and looked at Alexis, who was smirking at him as well. Royal and Laing exchanged conversation in regards to scheduling a game of squash this week and the next. During that time, Laing watched Alexis roam throughout the room, eyeing art pieces on display and the many garden variety of flowers and trees planted on the terrace. Many of the guests had swaggered outside as the sun was setting, likely to bask in a bit of moonlight bathing before the day was completely over. 

As Royal and Laing spoke, the latter watched Alexis like a body guard. He didn’t want to let her out of his sight. Curiously, he had never felt so protective of his ex-wife as he did of Alexis; his eyes would glance between Royal and Alexis, always keeping her in his peripheral. After Royal finished the discussion with a clap on Laing’s back and excusing  
himself, Laing shortly hunted Alexis down and found her sitting on the edge of a large fountain, the water spouting off the hand of a cherub angel. 

Alexis glanced up to see Laing as she had caught the shadow of his reflection in the basin, and smiled when he sat beside her.

“You’ve been avoiding me most of the party,” Laing noted. 

Alexis smiled at his straightforward comment. She liked direct honesty, no matter how blatant or blunt. She’d expressed this openly once before, but Laing now pondered that she liked his honesty more than what she let on. There was a subtle smirk in the way she looked at him, as though the gears of her mysterious mind turned on their own accord and for once, she was unable to conceal her involuntary emotions.

Maybe she fancied him too. 

That, in itself, made the tingling sensation return.

“I’ve not been avoiding you,” Alexis pointed out, turning her gaze behind them towards the other guests of the party. 

“Do they make you uncomfortable?” Laing asked curiously.

As though he had told a joke, Alexis chuckled wholeheartedly. The slender fingers of her hand grazed the water in the basin, creating the lightest of ripples. She did so distractedly, focusing on him more than what her hand was doing. Laing liked the way she could pay attention to him and yet not have to see him. 

“A lot of these people have been my former patients,” she confided quietly, leaning into him so no one could hear. 

“Oh!” Laing exclaimed. He laughed when she did. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know!”

“How could you have?” Alexis snickered, smirking at him. “Confidentiality, and all.” 

“Yes, well…” Laing sighed, “If you want to go, I’m not forcing you to stay. I didn’t intend on making you feel uncomfortable when I invited you here.”

“But you were intending on making me feel something by having me come here, right?” 

Laing was taken aback by her implication. Had he been that transparent when he asked her to come to the party? Caught red-handed in the act of wanting her to come to the party for him instead of the tour of the High-Rise, Laing smiled sheepishly. When she returned it, Laing’s smile only widened.

There was a subtle silence as the party-goers were starting to move the noise back inside the High-Rise. The horse was guided back to its little fencing area and Ann returned to her noble audience with an offer of drinking games and more festivities. Remaining on the terrace were only Laing and Alexis, the two so named did not mind it the slightest.

Laing turned to her, hands clasped together firmly as he watched her. She was a dark beauty, the raven that drifted gracefully through the trees and deserted graveyards, who perched precariously on the edge of the dreams that cradled his fantasies in the darkness of an abyss. 

“What floor are you on?” Alexis asked conversationally.

“Twenty-fifth,” Laing answered, sounding robotic. His mind circled back from his poetic reminisce, and smiled at her. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” Alexis uttered, her lips hummed on the last word, once more teasing his brain. 

A moment of silence passed between them. Laing watched her intently, his gaze only intensifying as her fingers left the water and then cupped them over his tightly clasped hands. Her eyes met his, and he was stunned when she moved closer to him. 

“Kiss me.” She whispered.

Laing stared at her, certain that he had misheard her. The drawn sexual tension he had felt for her whilst sitting in a cafeteria, watching her read philosophical material as she twisted her fork in spaghetti noodles drowned in tomato paste...the many days that he spent talking to her about his inevitable divorce, and how calmly she offered him her advice to try and stay with his ex-wife—it seemed that the yearning for her had found its way to psychological damage his vital senses such as his hearing. 

Alexis moved even closer to him. Laing licked his lips and saw that her eyes immediately watched as he did so. He smirked knowingly. 

Yes. He had heard her correctly. 

She seemed to wait for him to do something whether that was to act or to reject. The suspense of his actions seemed to be making her antsy as Alexis nibbled the right corner of her lower lip, a small purely white incisor biting down and causing the pink of it to turn white. 

“You like me, don’t you, Alexis?” Laing asked her calmly—despite the quick flutter of his stomach when her eyes seem to widen as he spoke her name in a low baritone.

“Very much,” Alexis told him quietly, her voice almost soft and meek despite its usual robust strength. 

“Even when I was married?” Laing asked her softly.

“Especially while you were married,” Alexis told him.

Laing chuckled, and Alexis moved even closer, so her leg touched his. That softness of her legs exposed to him, her cocktail dress rising so the hem of it moved above her knees. For such a strong-willed, proud woman, Alexis seemed completely drawn to him, almost as though she was just waiting for him to overtake her. While he had the sense of wanting to dominate her and take her as his own, make her his, Laing noticed the subtle way she drew herself to him. Her fingers resting on his hands, the way her black heel rubbed up and down along the side of his ankle. 

She wanted him. Badly. 

She was making it obvious to him. And that made that tingling sensation in Laing’s body become an unstoppable force, so irresistible that Laing allowed it to possess him so. He followed through, caressing her face with his large hands and shoved his mouth onto hers. As though thrust into a heat of blissful seduction, Alexis wrapped her arms quickly around his neck and reciprocated his passions. Soft moans were exchanged between parted lips as Laing deepened the kiss by stroking his tongue along the side of her own.  
He felt as though he had unleashed something within her. There was a strength in Alexis that always had to be demonstrated to her colleagues, to her patients, to men in general. That constant necessity to prove herself and be proven right beyond any means, the insistence of mistrust from years of debauchery. But demonstrated here, tonight, Laing felt her allow herself—even if it had been a few minutes—to disengage that vigilance and abandon control. 

As he kissed her and she reciprocated every motion, Laing smiled. 

“I’m glad you came to the party,” Laing told her as he brushed an escaped lock of hair behind her ear. 

She uttered in that familiar strong feminine tone, “Me too, Laing. Me too.” 

Laing kissed her forehead.

Together, they enjoyed the party until it became a little wild. Laing invited Alexis to his apartment. Reluctantly, she declined due to her pile of midterms that still needed to be graded. While in his doorway, Laing caught her wrist and pulled her back to him just as she was leaving. She parted her lips to protest, but Laing caught her in another kiss. He pushed her body against the door frame, his hands firmly holding the sides of her face so she wouldn’t try to leave—not that she would. Alexis was returning his kisses with the same vehemency, and Laing liked how quickly she returned to him. 

“Do you really want to go?” Laing asked her softly with his lips still touching hers.

Alexis bit her lip as her back pushed further against the door frame, her body pinned between it and his own. His hands left her face to slide down her shoulders, his fingertips applying pressure as they slid down her rib cage and rested on her hips. He liked the touch of her, and how she was ever so slightly trembling under his touch.  
Her shaky breathing and the quick rise and fall of her breasts implied that her sexual attraction to Laing was just as persuasive. He gave her leeway if she really wanted to go—her hands were free, but they were gripping the door frame, holding her steady despite the discrete quivering of her thighs. He could feel them so as he pushed his hips slowly against hers.

He didn’t expect any sexual exploration tonight. He only wanted to know if his fantasies would be indulged by the perplexity of this woman’s desire for him. Alexis looked up at him, pupils dilated; he’d sworn he had seen them just as large and dark before but the night sky had been a shroud of mystery for him. Standing in the lit hallway, he noticed that the same dilation from the 40th floor was just the same. 

“Kiss me again,” she breathed. 

Laing chuckled, his laugh purposely low and deep. She seemed to shudder in response. Laing pressed his lips against her own, her lips puckering in return, finding his readily. Her tongue creased his lower lip, extending the invitation for him to invade her mouth once more. Laing did so happily. As he did, Laing pushed his hips against hers and was pleasantly surprised by the furtive moan that escaped her throat and fell into his. 

“Like that, do you?” Laing asked her, knowingly.

“I do,” she told him. 

“Shameless,” Laing chortled, grinning at her honesty. “Would you like me to do it again?”

“Please,” Alexis indulged.

Laing kissed her again and pushed himself against her, his semi-erection nudging just between her legs. In those heels, she almost matched his height. His belly rolled with a pleasurable discomfort when she inhaled sharply as if taken by surprise but a sudden wave of lust. 

Laing withdrew from the kiss to place a soft peck along her jaw line. Her head tilted to the side to give him more access, and he felt himself harden by that instant submission. He kept one hand on her hip, squeezing her curves with massaging pressure, but the other lifted and cradled the side of his neck. Laing traced his thumb over the column of her throat. 

He half-expected her to flinch from him. Being a psychologist, Alexis had taken some rough twist and turns to get to where she was as an accomplished counselor and competent professor. Because of her natural stubbornness and ambition, Alexis had needlessly taken verbal (and the occasional physical) abuse from her patients and chastisement from incapacitated doctors. Aware of this, Laing lightly stroked his thumb along her throat, his eyes watching her face intently for any sign of discomfort. 

“Do you trust me?” Laing whispered. 

“Yes,” Alexis returned, tremulous.

Laing nuzzled her earlobe with his nose, his lips brushing the skin just behind it. He felt her body shudder from the smallest of motions. 

“Do you, really?” Laing inquired furtively, his lips turning upward against her flesh.

Alexis opened her eyes and straightened her head so he saw her laid out expression. There was that look—the imploring gaze—that made his knees weak and his cock hard. That look that she would do absolutely anything for him. Laing smiled, acknowledging her non-verbal behavior. She didn’t say it. She didn’t have to.

“Would you like a drink?” Laing asked her. “Or would you rather grade midterms at ten o’clock at night?” 

Catching his scoff, Alexis narrowed her eyes at him, smiling playfully moments after. She watched him turn his back on her, knowing full well what she had decided to do before she stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

“Make sure you lock that,” Laing called as he walked out of the room and into another. “It gets rowdy after hours.”

“It seems to me that it’s a party, be it day or night,” Alexis called back. 

One corner of her mouth lifted up into a crooked smile when she watched Laing walk back into the room, his jacket thrown over a chair and his tie undone. He had come back to the very well-decorated living room with two glasses, three ice cubes in each, held cautiously between three fingers. In the other hand was a bottle of white wine. He held it up as though awaiting her approval. 

“I love wine,” Alexis stated happily. 

“I figured you did,” Laing returned. “It’s what you had to drink at my wedding.”

Alexis smiled ruefully at him, muttering, “I had two bottles.”

Laing noticed how playful she appeared when she was embarrassed. Granted, knowing what he knew now, Laing was certain that she hadn’t been drinking during his wedding reception out of happiness and fun time. Knowing how attracted she was to him—during and after his engagement—Laing was certain she had been attempting to forget her attraction to him. Ironically, alcohol lowered the mind’s inhibitions, and she had ultimately thrown aside her pride in compensation for a less likable gentleman. All the same, neither had exchanged their names. So it was easily forgotten.

He offered her, now, a pint-sized glass of wine, only filling it halfway. He offered to go to the living room, guiding her through the apartment and settling on the couch. There were still boxes placed in no certain order around the apartment as he was still moving in. The essentials such as cooking utensils, coffee machine, the television, and other substantial luxuries had all been set up. Decorations and the sort still remained trapped within the cardboard boxes, still taped up and labeled. 

Sitting on the couch, Alexis looked around the apartment, perplexed by them. Seeing her curiosity, Laing turned on the television and lowered the volume to the two bars before mute, placed the remote on the coffee table in front of them, and explained that he was still moving in.

“Do you like your neighbors?” Alexis asked curiously, tilting her head back and taking in half the wine glass. 

Laing watched her, an eyebrow raising after she licked her lips.

“It’s too early to say,” Laing noted as he reflected on his few interactions with his neighbors, to include the orthodontist, Steele. 

Steele worked on the children’s teeth, regularly complained about the poor heating and cooling conditions of the lower floors (to include his own), and regularly grumbled about the poor quality of the garbage chute. Someone would block it up and he’d be after their throat for the rest of the week. His wife was no better. Something about Laing seemed to make the orthodontist and his wife regard him with irrevocable disdain, like a pessimist who couldn’t talk an optimist to their way of thinking, despite the philosophical bend.

Laing lied down on his half of the couch, a knee bent in front of him while the other leg cascaded along the bottom of the couch. He exhaled a deep breath, feeling more relaxed in his apartment than he ever did anywhere in the High-Rise. Down the hall, children and adults alike were running and screaming, pounding of footsteps and people shoving each other (playful or not) into the walls—the building seemed to come alive most at night. 

“Is everyone up around this time?” asked Alexis incredulously, her eyes darting quickly when someone inharmonious fell against the door. 

Laing tilted his head back over the arm of the couch, uttering calmly, “That is why I told you to lock the door.”

“Might need to barricade it,” Alexis suggested. 

“Possibly,” Laing mumbled.

Alexis looked at him, smiling. His eyes were closed and with his head tilted back over the couch, she saw the full exposure of his throat. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone, his tie falling into the couch somewhere as he shifted comfortably on the cushions. Alexis drank the last of her wine, placing it with a small tap on the table, barely  
audible. 

His own glass was held loosely in his hand. 

“Robert.”

Without looking at her, Laing smirked when he heard his name on her lips. How sweetly it sounded. 

“Yes?”

Laing arched his head back up to see Alexis moving closer to him. Seeing her do so, Laing began to sit up but she quickly shook her head and her hands touched his thighs as though to insist he remain in his original position. Curious to see what she would do, Laing lied back down, but continued to observe her every movement. 

Her unblinking gaze matched his in both intensity and ferocity. Both of her legs moved onto the couch so with each movement of her hand, her knees followed, crawling over to him. Alexis removed the tie from his person, tossing it onto the table with a graceful flourish. 

Amused, Laing smiled. 

“What are you doing, Alexis?”

“You’ll see.” Alexis uttered. 

“Alexis.”

Laing had spoken her name in not so much amusement but in such a firm way that it seemed to call out the submission that he had seen earlier tonight at the fountain. That subtle look of indignation made this young woman appear more child-like than he had ever seen her before. And she was aware of this as she smiled, pleased by the sternness of his voice.

This was a test, so to speak, Laing understood. What kind of sexual chemistry did they actually have, he wondered, they were sure to find out. They were somehow compatible, to the point where they operated in complete synchronization. 

“Come here.” Laing told her. 

Alexis moved towards him. This time, she was moving by his own command, not of her own accord. She licked her lips again, seemingly tantalized by her own eagerness to submit. Laing held his arms out as though to invite her into them; she climbed onto him, her legs straddling his waist. 

“Good girl,” Laing praised. 

Alexis bit her lip.

“You have a submissive streak, don’t you, Alexis?” Laing asked her. 

Alexis lowered her head so her lips just barely brushed his.

“Yes,” she admitted wholeheartedly. “I do. Does that turn you off?”

Laing chuckled, “Not in the slightest. I like it.” 

“I know you do,” Alexis told him quietly. “I can see it in your face. And….” She lowered her hand between them so her hand grabbed his hard-on. “I can feel it too.”

“Guilty,” Laing growled, grinning mischievously at her. 

They smiled knowingly at one another, and before Alexis could react further, Laing snatched the back of her head, his fingers taking a handful of her hair, and pulled her head  
back so her neck was exposed to him. She gasped sharply in pain but just as soon as she sounded off, a snicker followed.

“In all honesty,” Alexis muttered as Laing released her hair and gently massaged her scalp, “I really do have to grade the midterm papers, tally the marks….and….”  
Her to-do list trailed off when Laing interrupted her with a sensual, tender, long kiss. 

“While we are together,” Laing told her quietly but sternly, “You are not in control. I am.” 

“But Robert...”

“Allow me to free you from the burden of control,” Laing told her huskily, “and with me, you will know peace.”

Alexis looked at him as though he had stolen her voice. 

“Are you sure you’re a doctor?” she questioned skeptically.

“Of course I am,” Laing returned coolly with a smile. “What else would I be?”

“A poet?” Alexis offered, mildly serious.

“Can I not be both?”

“You are both,” Alexis noted.

Laing chuckled. And then she laughed, which caused him to laugh.


	2. A Beautiful Woman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the night still reasonably young, Laing invites Alexis back to his apartment. Sexy time ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of note, this chapter includes Dom/Sub material, and per the usual, smut. Enjoy!

As Alexis watched the news on the television in the living room, Laing boiled a kettle of tea over the stove in the kitchen, his eyes cascading from the simple task to watch Alexis shift comfortably on the couch. While it was only midnight, the night was still young for in the High-Rise, no one seemed to sleep. Many complained about their insomnia as often they did about the easily blocked garbage chutes, the children urinating in both the tenth and thirty-fifth floor swimming pools, or how the dog owners would walk their pets down to the lower floors from the bottom to the tenth to defecate. While the latter problems were likely everyday routine maintenance for the caretakers, maintenance, and the owners of the High Rise, Laing marked the insomnia of its tenants as an exceptional epidemic.

Falling asleep at night and waking up in the day was a large task for anyone that owned an apartment in the building so when midnight came and the clocks struck twelve, Laing was certain Alexis was getting sleepy. However, to his pleasant surprise, he noticed that Alexis looked more animated as the night progressed. With marked intrigue, Laing considered that Alexis might actually be a fair match for the High Rise. 

Many countless evenings he had stayed past his usual working hours at the medical school, this having become one of the many reasons he and his ex-wife had argued. As he would stroll out of the medical school with brief case in hand, he would occasionally check on the fellow doctor to see if she was leaving any time soon. Per the usual, Laing regularly found Alexis in her office, perusing the binders put together by ambitious students for applications of requesting her recommendation as a publicized honor grad. Her recommendation would get any student in one of the grandest hospitals due to her marked publication of accomplishments and esteemed variant degrees.

Likable enough, Alexis was very admired by her students. It was the staff that disparagingly referred to her as the school’s ‘shrink’, using the word so callously rather than jokingly. Alexis had to prove herself many times that she was just as accredited as any other male psychologist. Being the only one that had full credentials and experience in both outpatient clinics and inpatient psych wards, Alexis was the only doctor who truly had both her legs to stand on in an argument about who was the most certified. Her gender laid open for indifferent comments spoken behind her back—Alexis was aware of all of them, of course.

Despite having really no reason to defend her intellect and honor, Alexis put in day and night hours to be the best mentor for her future psychologists, especially her female students. 

Laing wrapped up the logic behind her late nights as ambition and admirable determination. She had all of these things, but as Laing watched her gaze at the news channel intently with all the focus and attention effortlessly mustered, he could see that maybe Alexis already had a bit of insomnia herself. 

Her heels had been tossed casually underneath the coffee table. Laing had convinced her to stay the night, offering to her that the midterms could wait tomorrow since it was the start of the weekend and no one would be in the school during that time anyway. With that logic resting on her shoulders, freeing her from the burden of work, Alexis consented and agreed that she would stay the night. 

“How do you take your tea?” Laing asked as he watched Alexis switch the channel—to what network he was unaware as he became more attentive to the cat-quiet footsteps across the wooden panels of the floor. 

He noticed that she wore an ankle bracelet on her right ankle, a small gold chain...nothing more. Her toenails were painted baby doll pink. Like the rest of her, her feet were beautifully molded, like a Barbie doll’s feet. 

“Lemon.”

Laing suddenly looked at her, startled. 

“Sorry?”

She nodded to the tea, repeating herself. 

“Lemon. I take lemon in my tea, Robert.”

Laing smiled apologetically, a handsome smile at that. She walked over to his side of the kitchen, turning so her waist leaned against the counter, her fingers curled underneath   
the edge. In his peripheral vision, Laing saw her watching him as he did her. He felt her eyes on his entire body, not speculating just one part of him but all of him. While already appearing relaxed with the three buttons of his shirt undone and his tie resting on the living room carpet, Laing felt the internal tension of something more profound than just lust. 

Exonerating from her, Alexis radiated physical and sexual attraction. The way she watched him and cared little about his awareness of her intense gaze, the way the corner of her lips tugged as though she was trying to resist showing her obvious liking. As Laing stepped from one counter to the other to fetch a lemon, he was very aware of Alexis starting to sway her body. It was as though she was dancing to a soft, slow melody. He could hear her humming to whatever music was playing on the television set in the living room, her singsong hum was lower than most female’s voices, and it found the deepest part of his soul like an arrow targeting a bulls eye. 

“Sugar?” 

“No,” Alexis politely declined. 

Laing offered Alexis her cup and she took it, taking care to slide her hand over his before doing so. Laing smirked at her, caught up on her teasing little games. Caught in the act, Alexis smirked back at him sheepishly before turning on her heel to sit on the couch, taking the comfort of the corner and arm. Sensing a tic for closeness, Laing took the middle cushion and propped his feet on the coffee table.

He could take her right here and now, strip her down, force her legs apart, and have his way with her. Oh yes, he could do that—and she would let him, Laing was certain. Men would have jumped at that moment, seizing the opportunity before it was relinquished from their grasp. Laing, however, was a patient man. He could take all night—for her, he would give her months. 

Laing watched her take a gulp of the tea he’d made for her, and was pleased when she smiled, satisfied. 

“This is the most delectable tea I have ever had,” Alexis noted, smacking her lips. “What’s your secret?”

“I actually take the time to make it,” Laing returned casually. “What are you watching, by the way?”

“I haven’t a clue,” Alexis replied honestly. “I liked the commercial it was playing and it’s….well, whatever this show is called...” She gesticulated uncertainly towards the screen. 

Laing smiled inwardly when Alexis drank the rest of her tea and placed it on the table. Staring at it for a second, she suddenly rose to her feet so quickly that Laing was startled, thinking something might have disturbed her. He wouldn’t have been so surprised as he heard someone in the hallway holler and then a fist fight ensued. 

“Do you have coasters?” asked Alexis.

Laing laughed, “I’m sorry?”

“Coasters—for the table,” said Alexis, pointing at any random box in the apartment. 

“Somewhere,” Laing replied carelessly. “Why do you ask?”

Alexis didn’t answer him. Instead, she wandered around the apartment as he watched her search for coasters. Watching her bend at the knees and look through the cardboard boxes in a tight cocktail dress was an entertaining sight for Laing to say the least. He noticed that when she would squat down, the hem of the dress would creep upwards to the middle of her inner thigh. Laing laughed when she sighed in mild frustration, shaking her head, continuing her hunt for the damned things. He wondered if she would do this all   
night. 

“Never mind it,” Alexis uttered more to herself than him as she strode into the bathroom and came back with paper towels. “I suppose we can use these.”

“You do realize that I wouldn’t have cared if you sat your glass on the table, right?” Laing made sure to point out as she sat down beside him. 

“I would mind.” Alexis returned pointedly. 

Laing chuckled to himself, amused by her affliction. They both glanced outside when the fist fight became exceedingly violent; more than at least five people were bellowing at each other. One of the voices, Lang recognized, belonged to Steele. 

“Does anyone sleep around here?” Alexis remarked curiously as she pulled her feet up underneath her. 

“There’s a disarray during the night hours,” Laing informed, cognitively aware that Alexis was not entirely alarmed by the violence, but commented on it as though it happened where she lived as well. 

“Insomnia is a trifle.”

“That, it is,” Laing agreed. 

“Do you have it as well?”

“Not yet. Give it time, I’m sure.”

“I have it,” Alexis stated in a matter-of-fact tone. “Most of the time, I don’t see it as a problem though. But then again, I find productivity to be best during the night hours. I don’t know what they are doing but it’s obviously not helping.” 

Laing chuckled, “Is that your professional opinion?”

“Professional, no.” Alexis responded, but that’s all she said.

When the fist fight seemed to lead away from the door, Alexis shook her head. When the television and the lights around them suddenly went out, Laing sighed exasperatedly and Alexis, who was not used to the power outages, muttered, “oh”. The violence outside seemed to only intensify by the abrupt darkness, no more than what usually happened. 

“Does this happen a lot?” asked Alexis curiously.

“Yes,” Laing told her. 

Curiously, the lights turned back on quickly. Laing laughed in amusement because of it. The television came back on as well, and so entered the newscaster and one of the tenants of the High Rise, Cosgrove.

“Do you want to watch something else?” Alexis asked.

Laing gave her a curious look. 

“You have an expression of disgust on your face.” Alexis noted, circling a finger in front of his face to further distinguish his irritation. Glancing at the television, she asked, “Do you know him?” 

“He’s one of the neighbors upstairs,” Laing told her, raising his eyes up to the ceiling with a mixture of equal irritation and exasperation. “A fairly convincing TV host, but otherwise, a narcissistic figure with a unhealthy fascination with Steele’s wife.”

Alexis smirked at him, saying, “I’ve never heard your voice sound so uncouth. I like it.”

Laing placed his arm behind her aligning the back of the couch, smirking at her with a deeper knowing of just how compatible the two of them were. She offered him the remote, caring little for whatever channel he flipped to—if any. 

With the power restored, the outbreak of fighting outside and hollering seemed to die down as though the tenants who’d been in a brawl suddenly compromised with a peace treaty. Taking light of the quieter atmosphere, Laing turned the television channel to what appeared to be a dramatization of the day-to-day basis of a self-absorbed highschooler who was a caught up in the mix of either bad acting or a nervous personality. 

Laing placed the remote on the coffee table in between the two empty wine glasses and tea cups. Reclining his back against the couch once more and placing his arm behind Alexis as it had been prior to his movement, Laing was mindful of how distracted Alexis appeared to be. While her eyes stared at the television, they seemed glazed over as though her mind was concentrated on something else. 

Laing tilted his head and leaned into her, his lips kissing the side of her forehead closest to him while his hand on her shoulder rubbed in small circular rotations. Pretending to be completely involved in the movie, Alexis resisted the small smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth. 

She wouldn’t allow him to swoon her so easily. Laing made it his personal challenge to conquer her in such a way that when the time when he had her on her back, Alexis’ knees would part for him without the request to do so. 

Laing lowered his kiss to her ear, licking the outermost edge as he blew a small channel of air into it. Alexis exhaled a small giggle, but didn’t pull away from him so he did it again. Laing smiled when she emitted another giggle. After it subsided, and her concentration was half focused on the movie again, Laing lowered his lips to her earlobe, kissing it first with his lips and then with his tongue. These were small movements, so minute and discrete, but Laing could see the rise and fall of her chest slowing as though her breathing was deepening. 

Her head tilted ever so slightly as Laing kissed her neck. Slowly. Apparently, he found a weak spot as she closed her eyes and bit her lower lip. Laing kissed her in the same spot, taking care to nibble her flesh. Alexis turned her head suddenly and caught the kiss with her mouth, finishing it off there. 

Tender kissing became unbearable as Laing felt her reciprocation of his advances match him in both passion and ferocity. When he kissed her, she kissed harder. Laing explored her mouth with his tongue, finding her own and a small battle of dominance encircled within but only lasting minutes as he laid her back on the cushions of the couch. 

Laing and Alexis didn’t stop their passionate kissing even as another brawl seemed to initiate outside the door with Steele’s unmistakable voice shouting, “WATCH WHAT YOU   
THROW AWAY YOU BASTARD! YOU’RE GOING TO PLUG UP THE CHUTE AGAIN!”

“Fucking animals,” Alexis hissed in mid-kiss.

Laing lifted the hem of her skirt above her waist, groping his hands along her hips and down to her thighs. 

“Don’t worry about them,” Laing muttered. 

“Have you’ve ever been in a fight before, Robert?” Alexis inquired. 

“Not yet,” Laing returned. 

She raised her hands to touch him but he caught them, gathering her wrists in one hand and placed them above her head. 

“Keep them there,” Laing ordered huskily. 

Alexis raised an eyebrow but she did as she was told. Invigorated by the brawl happening again outside, Alexis was breathless as she watched Laing remove his shirt over his   
head, throwing it aside. Impressed by his physical prowess, her eyes widened and Laing could see that smile of hers only widening. 

“Like what you see, don’t you,” Laing questioned as he moved towards her again, tie in his hand. He tied her wrists together. 

Alexis couldn’t say much of anything as she continued to watch him with bated breath. He exuded confidence and dominance, his small tactile calculations and slow but forceful proceedings progressed her excitement further as he lifted her cocktail dress up and over her bound hands. Alexis was only wearing her purely white lacy lingerie, amplifying her vulnerable state. Her fingers wiggled in her bonds as Laing hovered over her body with the hungry eyes of a predator.

“You have no idea how long I have imagined doing this to you,” Laing told her in a low baritone. 

His hands cupped her neck in a firm but gentle clasp, testing her will. Alexis craned her head back to allow him better access of her neck, offering her flesh to him. His thumbs slowly traced the column of her throat and his fingers spread as his palms slid down her collar bone. Approaching her perky breasts, Laing groped them through the bra, his palms cupping them as he lowered his head to hers.

Inches from kissing her, Alexis had lifted her head to meet him halfway. Laing noticed this. With a smile, he softly chortled at her efforts and kissed her chin.   
“I like your body,” Laing told her softly as he kissed her neck while he pawed her breasts and she wiggled underneath him. “I love it, actually.”

“Wouldn’t you like it more if I was completely undressed?” Alexis coaxed. 

Laing let out a knowing chuckle, which made the butterflies hovering in Alexis' stomach to flutter pleasantly inside her. 

“I know what you’re trying to do, Alexis,” said Laing calmly. “I won't be so easily manipulated--I plan on taking my time...unlike some of the men you’ve been with, I am patient. Your last suitor….what was his name….”

“Sounds to me like you're a little jealous. Hardly relevant at this point in time, don’t you think?” Alexis responded carelessly.  
Laing sat on her waist, straddling his thighs on either side of hers and smiling when she sent him a reproachful look. 

“I watched you two,” Laing stated as he placed his hands meticulously along her rib cage, his fingers lightly tracing downwards to her abdomen. “Just as you watched us. He lacked finesse, I could see it. And, undoubtedly, I am sure you saw it as well.” 

“Of course I know it,” Alexis muttered, rolling her eyes. “I was there.”

“But trying not to be,” Laing reminded. “And who could blame you?” 

“I certainly didn’t,” Alexis stated coyly, smirking at him. “And I still don’t.” 

Laing leaned into her for another slow, deep kiss and as he did, his arms reached behind her and unclasped her bra. Wordlessly, he reached over her head to her wrists and undid her bonds with a few tugs on the tie, and allowed her hands to drop to their normal position. The tie met the ground. 

“The entire time I watched you with him,” Laing uttered darkly, “I spent nights thinking of ways to reimburse you for the many nights you lain unsatisfied. Now that I have you, I can’t think of what I want to do first.” 

His voice was deeper than usual, hoarse as he spoke with the lust darkening every syllable with relish. Alexis grinned up at him. She lifted her hips to grind them against his, and he inhaled slowly, feeling that familiar tingle become an instant spark. Clothes separated them, but Laing could feel the feverish heat between her legs. 

The realization had always lingered in the back of his mind, but now he was more certain of it than ever. He didn’t just want her. He was pining for her. Every thought was consumed with having himself inside her, maneuvering within that glorious cove of wetness and incomprehensible heat. Feeling unable to contain himself, Laing began grinding his hips against hers, feeling himself harden the longer he did so. Attuned with his longing, Alexis, who had been so well put together seemed to become undone with him as her resolve slowly broke and she was moaning. 

Her sounds only spurred him on. 

“I love hearing you,” Laing told her in between kisses. “Moan for me, Alexis.”

She did so involuntarily as he lowered his hand into her underwear and felt the heat and wetness of her flesh against his palm. Her hips bucked upwards to meet his hand.

“Fuck, you’re soaking wet,” Laing whispered. “You like me teasing you, don’t you, Pet?”

The literal pet name made Alexis immediately obedient to him. He might as well have snapped his fingers before she submitted to him like a well-trained hound. Laing didn't dare let this go unnoticed; he smirked, knowingly. He had her in the palm of his hand just as she did with him. Alexis, who was so proud and strong-willed outside of his apartment was slowly being reduced to a sweet subservient. Shamelessly, she was thrusting her hips to meet his hand as he slid one finger between the slickness of her folds, covering his hand entirely in her hot juices. Her moans became whimpers, her lips parted in lust and need. Her eyes gazed at him with that look again—that imploring look, those eyes tugging at him. 

“Say you like being teased,” Laing ordered firmly. “Say it, Pet.”

“What, those exact words?” Alexis retorted out of sexual frustration, but Laing could see that her body only reciprocated his words in their own way. Her nipples were hard, her skin was flushed a glowing shade of red, and her clit was swollen and throbbing, which he happily rubbed with his thumb as he continued to loosen her entrance with two fingers.   
“Don't play coy--You like being told what to do, Alexis,” Laing lectured. “I can see it. Now...tell me how you like being teased, how you enjoy having my fingers inside you. I want to hear it." 

Alexis’ eyes widened with increased desire. He used the tone of a teacher who was scolding a juvenile delinquent, that lecturing tone only enlightening that submissive streak. Alexis bit her lip and closed her eyes.   
Intentionally defiant, Alexis hissed,“I like being teased, damn it. Okay?”   
“Be polite, Pet. Use ‘Sir’ when you answer me,” Laing growled and she felt him thrust all of three fingers deep inside her pussy, making her scream in both relief and heightened pleasure. 

“Yes, Sir!” She cried out.

Laing smirked deviously as he watched her writhe underneath him. He felt her walls tighten around him as he curled his fingers and wiggled them, finding her G-spot quickly and effortlessly. As though possessed by an erotic demon, her body thrashed as she powered through an orgasm. 

“Beautiful,” Laing uttered as he watched her back arch and her lips part in moans of ecstasy. 

He moved off the couch, straightening himself as he loosened the belt on his pants. Alexis quickly rose to her knees, panting and sweating. He allowed her the privilege of pulling down his trousers and boxers; when his cock met her eye-level, Laing couldn’t help but gasp when she put him in his mouth without question. 

Her hands held his hips, her mouth took the rest of him. He hadn’t expected her to be so eager to take him in her mouth but he was sure damn pleased to be so lucky! Laing groaned pleasurably as her tongue swirled around his cock, only numbing the impulse to bury himself deep inside her for a few more minutes. Laing tangled his hands in her hair, gripping the locks tightly as she moaned with him in her mouth. The vibrations tested his might, and he let out another moan. 

He didn’t keep them in as he might have with other women. He wanted her to know what she was doing to him. He would shower her with proper praise later, indeed, but for now, his moans of relief and pleasure were all she needed to keep taking more and more of him down her throat. He heard Alexis gag slightly as she continued to do so. Her fingernails dug into his backside and buttocks. Laing had imagined that Alexis would be willing to exchange the favor of stimulation in his dreams and in his vivid day dreams but never had he predicted her to be so enthusiastic. She knew just how to stimulate him to the point he felt more pain than pleasure as his cock throbbed mercilessly. 

“That’s a good girl,” Laing gasped, his eyes rolling in the back of his head. “Oh my god, that feels so good, Pet….” He started thrusting his cock into her mouth and as though she was trained, Alexis remained still while he did so. 

Not certain that he could last much longer, Laing pulled himself out of her mouth, and with his hands still tangled in her hair, he forced her head back and shoved his mouth on hers aggressively. 

“Get on your back,” Laing growled, gesturing sharply to the couch. 

“Yes, sir...” Alexis whispered. 

Laing smirked at her as she did so, raising her hips and removing her soaking wet underwear and tossed it somewhere behind the couch. 

“How do you want it, Pet,” Laing questioned as he moved between her legs. "And be descriptive."

“I want you to fuck me hard,” Alexis told him. “Hold nothing back. I need your cock inside of me. Now.”

Laing didn’t need more coaxing after that dirty line. He slowly slid himself deep within her and she arched her back and moaned with his smooth penetration. Her pussy took his cock into such a tight, wet, warm sheath that Laing almost came inside her. Lucky for him, another brawl broke out in the hallway distracting him a moment and he started thrusting inside her. 

“You like it rough, don’t you, Alexis. Of course you do….I can feel it,” Laing growled. 

The brawl seemed to get louder outside, and the moans happening within Laing’s apartment only increased in volume. Her screams outmatched the white noise in the hallway, and Laing could feel her getting closer and closer to the edge, her body thrashing against him, her nails dragging long, red scratches down his shoulders and back. 

“Moan louder,” Laing ordered. “Scream for me—I want the fortieth floor to be able to hear you come for me.”

She didn’t need to follow his orders. She obeyed needlessly. Alexis was screaming his name at the top of her lungs as he made her squirt, her clear juices covering both their thighs. He continued to pound inside her swollen cunt, watching her squirm and writhe beneath him. 

It was a glorious sight.

Her body moved too much at some point, though. Not that she could help it. Her eyes were shut tightly as she rode out multiple orgasms, her body unable to sustain so much pleasure at one given time—or maybe, never had the chance to do so. Laing placed one hand on her neck with a grip tight enough to hold her in place. Her hands shot up to his wrist as though instinctively but she didn’t pull on his wrist to stop him. Her eyes were rolled in the back of her head, her eyelids fluttering until they once more held tightly shut as she moaned endlessly. 

“Don’t….stop…..” Alexis muttered. Her body erupted into another orgasmic thrashing.

Laing laughed darkly, “I would do no such thing.”

With his free hand, he lifted her legs on his shoulders, allowing himself better access to thrust deeper inside of her. And that only caused her to scream even louder, her voice was hoarse and her words were incomprehensible. 

“Robert, I can’t...”

“You don’t have a choice. Just lie there and take all of me inside of you.” Laing told her, his voice was soft but commanding.

Her pussy tightened around his cock, tighter than usual, and he moaned when he felt her hit another orgasm (“Good girl”) and she braced herself with her arms over the couch and her fingers clutching the arm for dear life. Every thrust inside her made her jaw drop a little and with the hard movements, Laing watched her supple breasts bounce. 

She really was a beautiful woman. 

Laing felt himself edging closer to his climax and as it approached, he thrust inside her harder and rougher. His eyes closed tightly shut, his jaw clenched, and his thrusts were getting sloppy. Alexis watched him getting closer, he could feel her eyes on him. 

“I’m almost there,” Laing moaned. 

Alexis pushed her hips against him, meeting him halfway so he could move faster and harder. Her accelerated heightened moaning of his name pushed him over the edge. He began to pull out of her so he could come anywhere but inside, but lowered and wrapped her legs around his waist, keeping him locked in.

“Come inside me,” Alexis insisted.

He didn’t argue with her. Instead, he made one more push and he moaned as he did. Alexis arched her back as she experienced yet another orgasm, smaller but still just as strong. Laing propped himself above her with his arms, flexing his back and shoulders as he looked down at Alexis. She exhaled deeply out of both relief and exhaustion, smirking at him. 

Her mascara and eyeliner was smudged around her eyes, and sweat matted her hair around her forehead and neck. Sweating and hot, Laing pulled out of her and sat up on the couch, wiping the sweat off his forehead with his hand. Alexis sat up, doing the same.

“You’re fucking incredible,” Laing uttered when he managed to catch his breath.

“You are too. I’m on the pill, by the way,” Alexis told him as she pulled her hair back in a messy low hanging pony tail.  
Laing stood up slowly and walked across the living room, shuffling his hand around in the jacket pocket and withdrawing a pack of cigarettes. As he lit one up, he looked at her, confused.

“Sorry?” 

“Birth control,” Alexis clarified. “That’s why I wanted you to come inside of me.”

“No babies, no worries?” Laing guessed as he took a long drag of his cigarette.

“Not my monkeys, not my circus.”

Laing gave her a quirky expression and Alexis smirked at him as she stood to her feet, wobbling a little until she found her balance. 

“I tell my patients that,” she said smoothly. “Like, if it isn’t your business, it’s not your problem, kind of thing. It’s more fun the way I put it.”

“Is that how most people put it?”

“I don’t care how other people put it,” Alexis returned smartly, still smirking. “I like the way I say it.”

“I like the way you say a lot of things,” Laing reassured slyly as he strolled back to the couch.

Alexis glanced at the door curiously, hearing nothing. The fifth brawl of the night seemed to have died down as the early morning dawned slowly to five o’clock.   
Laing knew the High Rise enough that the party would likely catch a second wind by eleven o’clock and be in the same full swing by the evening. Alexis smiled as Laing side-stepped her to pull on his briefs and pants, buckling them casually. 

“Did you know that when you’re tense,” Alexis uttered smoothly, “You clench the muscles around your jaw and those around your neck?” 

“I had no idea,” said Laing curiously, subconsciously tracing his chin. 

“It’s very attractive, you know.” Alexis told him, smiling beautifully at him. "

“Is it?” Laing inquired, intrigued. 

“I think it is.” Alexis told him serenely. 

“You know,” said Laing as he put out the cigarette in an ash tray and approached her, “one of my neighbors mentioned that I am a ‘fine specimen’. Is that something you would agree with?” 

Alexis scoffed, “Are you asking my professional opinion, Dr. Laing?”

“I’m requesting your personal opinion, Dr. Branshaw,” Laing returned, entertained by the play of formality.

She finally stated, “You’re more than a specimen, Robert. And I would be more than happy to enlighten you.” 

“Why don’t you?” Laing asked, smirking at her.

Alexis leaned into him and licked his throat, siphoning from him a small, involuntary moan. 

“Some other time," Alexis returned enigmatically.

Laing raised his eyebrows, intrigued, and smiled when she kissed him lightly on the lips. She strolled away and started to make herself a second cup of tea. Laing whistled low. 

She truly was a beautiful woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed these, please leave a comment regarding your favorite part of the story so far. I'm always happy to hear from you! :D (Also, Happy Mother's Day)


	3. The Evening After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laing and Alexis have sex before the both of them decide to head out to work and get some work done. (Dom/Sub)

Chapter Three: The Evening After 

That following Sunday Evening, Laing awoke from a dreamless sleep, remembering the few hours before. There was a content silence in the building itself, strange for all its usual ear-ringing deafness. Naked under the sheets, mirroring his own nudity, was Alexis, lying beside him on her stomach as she quietly snored in her sleep. 

He couldn’t recall when they had fallen asleep, or for that matter, when they had decided to go to bed. The entire weekend had become one long blur since Friday when he asked her to the party hosted by Royal and his many go-between guests, to include Simmons. He hadn’t heard much gossip since he had been with Alexis the entire time but he was sure to learn some rumors from either Charlotte Melville or Wilder. 

Not to mention the ruthless teasing. 

Not wanting to think more about it, Laing turned on his side, facing Alexis. He placed his arms around her shoulders so as to pull her towards him. The morning was unusually chilly, and while his own body heat could sustain him, he liked having her close to him. It was like he was still living a fantasy, as though he was dreaming of her still….so close to him in his bed. 

Her hair was a matted mess around her face, a few strands holding for dear life around her neck and cheek, and a few of the bolder ebony locks shielded her face. Laing gently placed these strands behind her ear so as to look upon with more fervor. Her retinas beneath her closed eyelids moved behind them as she slipped deeper into her dreaming state. 

Ever so quietly she mumbled something in an early morning moan. She seemed aware of his closeness and instinctively moved closer to him, feeling his arms enclose her into his body heat. Laing was reminded of a kitten as her nose nuzzled his shoulder, her arms tucked into her so her body seemed magnetized to his chest. 

“Good Evening,” Laing whispered to her as her eyes groggily opened. 

“Evening….?” She repeated, still dazed from her awakening. She remained close to him, rubbing her eyes against his shoulder to block out the intrusion of sunlight that came through the bay windows. 

“It’s five,” Laing answered her silent inquiry.

“Ugh...” She scoffed, shaking her head. She croaked, “I haven’t slept this late in a long time.”

The sheets rustled as she turned on her back. Laing lied on his side, propped up by his arm as he traced an invisible design on her bare shoulders. 

“It was a wild night,” Laing commented as though offering an excuse for sleeping in.

Alexis cleared her throat, muttering, “It’s always a wild night here, it seems.”

“Not every night.” Laing countered, smirking at her. 

“The fights aren’t wild to you?”

“The fight wasn’t what I was referring to, Pet,” Laing uttered.

Alexis quirked her eyebrows at the last word, a tingle found its mark between her legs. The name he gave her brought out a lot of her indiscretions from last night, the way she folded and submitted to him in a matter of minutes. 

Seeing her reaction to his sweet name for her, Laing smirked. The slender finger he used to trace the designs on her shoulder slowly headed south in the softest, feathery touches causing goosebumps to appear on her shoulders and her nipples to harden. 

“Your body is so responsive to me, Alexis. I wonder why that is.” Laing drawled. 

She stayed remarkably still, although she seemed ready to pounce on him within a minute’s notice. He could give the command, Laing was certain, and she would react upon his orders. Laing leaned forward from his solidified side position and took her slighted parted lips into a deep, slow kiss. She reciprocated his passions with equal want. 

Her fingers interlaced around his neck, tugging his hair gently. 

“I don’t even have to touch you,” Laing whispered against her lips before kissing her harder, “I need only speak and you react to me so….” He brushed his mouth against her earlobe and groaned, “Beautifully.” 

Alexis bit her lower lip, just near the corner as though she was unaware of doing so. Laing watched her hips starting to circle as his hand slowly massaged her pelvis. 

“You like this, don’t you, Alexis?” Laing breathed into her ear, his deep baritone gnawing the inside of her very core. 

Her eyes closed as she embraced the tightening in her stomach, the arousing sensation only building as he lowered his hand down to her exposed quim. He didn’t touch. Not just yet. His fingers hovered over her, allowing Alexis to gauge the fact that contact was just out of her reach. Alexis reached down to take his hand, but in her ear, his voice instructed her not to do anything. 

“Put your hand down, Pet,” Laing muttered in a soft, but commanding tone.

“But...”

Hearing her defy him, Laing firmly ordered, “Alexis, do as I say.”

Alexis bit her lip again in a pout and she obeyed. 

“Good girl,” Laing muttered, kissing her earlobe and the skin just behind it. Rewarding her, Laing stroked her clit with his first two fingers, the fingertips lightly coaxing a small   
moan from her. 

“I like this,” Laing whispered eagerly as he kissed her cheek. “See what good girls receive when they behave, Alexis? Hm? You’re enjoying this, aren’t you….oh yes, I can tell.”   
He let out an appealing chuckle, one that vibrated as he kissed her on the mouth. Laing watched her eyelids flutter as she was slowly being submitted to small, gentle, circular strokes of her clit, his fingers alternating clockwise and counterclockwise rotations and withdrawing small moans and deep sighs of encouragement. 

As if consciously unaware of doing so, Alexis’ thighs were slowly separating and her back arched minutely in response to the mini orgasms that were electrocuting her body. The small flinching jolt of the muscles in her inner thighs quaked occasionally during each of these pleasurable quivers, and Laing enjoyed the sight. He could do so much to her with just his voice and fingers. 

He used a lecturing tone on her. It seemed to do things to her. The slight humiliation of being scolded, the retaliation of defiance, and when he corrected her, she only seemed to be drawn to further submission. It was a delicate balance of give and take. This, Laing knew. He’d wanted to do this before—with his ex-wife….even with Charlotte—but neither seemed interested. 

Alexis, however...she was a willing candidate.

“Robert….” She moaned as he stroked her swollen clit. 

“What is it?” Laing patronized, smirking when she shuddered. “Do you want more, Pet? Hmm? Is that what you want?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, what?” 

Alexis and Laing met with fierce eye contact as Laing waited to hear her address him as she had been instructed to do so during these times. The imploring look she gave him begged to spare her the rod (or really, to give it to her) but Laing smirked at her. 

“You can look at me like that all you want, Pet...but you will get nothing more from me until you address me in the manner you’ve been instructed.” Laing told her sternly, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he played his part. 

“Robert...”

Laing suddenly squeezed her clit between the two fingers that had been touching her and she whimpered. 

“Sir….” Alexis corrected in a quiet gasp. “Please...Sir….” 

“I admire your resistance,” Laing sighed as he sat up. “But I favor your obedience even more.”

He carefully attuned himself between her legs, cradling his arms around her thighs. He pulled her to him. Alexis sharply inhaled with a sudden increase of desire as she felt the head of his hard cock taunt the folds of her red, heated pussy. A small cry strained inside her as he let out a low, sinister chuckle. 

“Feel that?” Laing growled, nudging the head of his cock teasingly in her entrance. “You want me, don’t you, Pet? No need to talk. Just nod your head ‘yes’.” 

She nodded her head five times over.

Laing inwardly moaned with satisfaction as she wriggled her bottom and her hips bucked forward as he rubbed his fingers over her clit while still teasing her entrance with his cock. Another whine involuntarily escaped her lips and her eyelids shut tightly as though to ignore the ever growing pressure between her legs.

Alexis pulled a pillow over her head, her nail beds glowing salt-white as she dug them into the fluffy satin, a muffled scream of sexual frustration coming from it. Laing laughed in genuine amusement, finding her ways of handling this stressful situation all too entertaining. 

“Now, now, none of that,” Laing chastised as he leaned forward and snatched the pillow from her and threw it aside. 

Her face was red from screaming. 

“Tell me what you want,” Laing calmly instructed. 

She let out another agonizing moan as he began bouncing her hips onto the head of his cock, watching as her breathing became erratic and her nails clawed the sheets. He would only give her a little taste, enough to motivate her and simultaneously frustrate her further.

“Robert, you can’t—”

Laing lunged forward and promptly slapped his hand over her mouth, holding her jaw in a vice-like grip. Surprised by the suddenly violent movement, Alexis’ eyes widened in shock but the terror never appeared. Instead, she looked more aroused than ever, those pupils dilating further to the point it seemed the green irises had gone in a place of pure unadulterated darkness.

“What did you say to me?” Laing growled, his eyes piercing through her skull.

She made a small attempt to shake her head, but owing to the fact that his grip was so hard, she was barely even able to do so. Laing glanced down as her hands beckoned to him, her fingers massaging over his chest and shoulders as though to smooth over her insolence. 

“Do you want to try that again?” Laing challenged. He grinned when she shook her head. 

He backed off, reclining back on his knees. She looked at him reproachfully.

“Lie on your stomach.” Laing ordered. 

Alexis quickly obeyed, turning to do so. He didn’t give her much time as he grabbed her hips and did the deed himself, angling her butt upwards so she sat very much like a dog with its hindquarters sticking up, ready to play ball.

“Keep your head down.” Laing told her softly, but his voice still held that commanding tone. 

Alexis felt his hands move in front of her thighs to gently stroke her clit again. The loving caress of her ass with his other hand made Alexis calmer. She moaned with his timed strokes, rotating her hips to match his rhythm. 

“So beautiful….” Laing sighed, a quiet moan of his own arousal leaving his lips as he grabbed her ass with his free hand.

Slowly, the head of his cock nudged her pussy as though knocking on the door for an invitation. There was a smallest resistance from Alexis but Laing ignored her whine as he grabbed her shoulder and reclined her back so he could put his hand around her neck. Her back taut against his chest and his hand wrapped around her throat, Alexis licked her lips as she felt him slowly enter her pussy from behind. 

Both exhaled a pleasurable groan with his entry, her wet walls easily allowed him inside. His free hand moved in front of her, giving constant attention to her swollen clit. As he thrusted inside her and vibrated his fingers around the bundle of nerves, Alexis was being overwhelmed by pleasure, polished off with Laing shoving his mouth onto hers, assaulting her lips with aggressive, passionate kisses. He moaned deeply into her mouth and she felt herself becoming inexplicably wetter.

“Sir, please fuck me harder,” Alexis begged. 

“If I do, there is nothing you will be able to say to stop me,” Laing warned, still pushing in and out of her. 

“I don’t care.”

“Not now,” Laing snickered, “but I’m sure you will later.”

Alexis was still determined so Laing pulled out of her and ordered her to lie on her back. Alexis eagerly did so, spreading her legs. 

“Sweet, calm little Alexis,” Laing mocked, smirking at her. “Splayed out before me like an overeager little whore.”

“Well, you’re fucking this whore so I say the ball is in your court, sir,” Alexis retaliated smartly, raising an eyebrow sheepishly as Laing chuckled at her response.

“Ooh, Touche,” Laing chuckled, genuinely amused. 

She grinned back at him and he braced himself on his forearms and entered her in doing so. Quick, short, hard thrusts pushed Alexis over the edge. One hard thrust made her body slide upwards and she roughly hit her head against the wooden headboard. 

“Oh fuck, are you okay?” Laing asked, startled.

“I’m fine—keep going,” Alexis responded quickly, shaking her head and laughing. 

Laing laughed as well and he continued fucking her, hard and deep. A few more minutes later, she hit her head again and Laing laughed openly, quickly reaching over to the other side of the bed and grabbing the pillow he’d snatched from her earlier. He placed it alongside the board, parallel with it. 

“Are you still all right?”

“Peachy,” Alexis panted. 

They continued without further interruption. As Laing was feeling himself climbing closer and closer to his peak, having experienced Alexis’ multiple orgasms clutching him tightly inside her sweet, vaginal walls, Laing hissed as he felt himself ready to come. Alexis, who was breathless and unable to moan giving the fact that she was nearly hyperventilating, encouraged him.

“I’m coming,” Laing told her, gritting his teeth.

“You can come anywhere you like,” Alexis told him, smiling up at him. 

“I’d rather come in your mouth to be honest,” Laing muttered, more to himself than to her. 

Hearing him, Alexis pushed him off her. Confused and in mid-climax, Laing watched her with unparalleled admiration as she fell to her knees and quickly took his cock in her mouth, simultaneously rubbing his shaft quickly up and down with fervor. His cock was soaked with her excitement, but she obviously didn’t seem to care as she sucked on him, one hand on his base, the other massaging his balls. 

Unable to hold back any longer, Laing came inside her mouth, bracing himself against the headboard and her head as he felt himself becoming weak under the incredible strength of his orgasm. He moaned loudly as he rode out the rest of his pleasure by fucking her mouth. She drank him down to nothing and with satisfaction, she licked the head of his cock. 

His back sank against the headboard as he panted. He looked at Alexis, watching her lick her hand from where she had stroked him vigorously, and was now mixed with both of their cum. Alexis smirked at him as he breathlessly watched her.

Alexis was the first to stand and already anticipating what Laing would want next, she strode into the living room and then offered him the pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Pleased by her intuition, Laing took the pack of cigarettes and lighter from her, then also gestured for her to bend down. When she did, he kissed her tenderly on the mouth.

“Thank you, Pet.” He uttered softly.

“You’re welcome, Master.” She mused lowly.

Laing felt his cock tingle again. 

He said nothing as she sat beside him, mirroring him with her back against the headboard. Alexis glanced upwards at the ceiling as she listened to another party starting up again, and she chuckled derisively.

“I might get a place here,” Alexis stated conversationally, looking at Laing. “It’s pretty lively. Spacious too.”

“You might be a fair match for it,” Laing offered as he lit a cigarette, cupping his hand over it to better alight the flame. He casually tossed the cigarette pack and lighter to the end of the bed, filtering his lungs with the addicting drug. 

“Who would I talk to about getting an apartment?” she inquired.

“I could get you the phone number,” said Laing helpfully. “To my knowledge, according to Royal at least, there’s a vacant apartment. One of the tenants left recently.”

“Did they find something better?”

Laing shrugged saying, “I don’t know them. If you want to know who they are—or were—I suggest talking to Charlotte Melville.”

“Why her?”

“She seems to know everyone around here,” Laing replied, lowering his cigarette over the edge of the bed. “But not a lot of people seem to know her.”

“Is that a fact?” 

Laing shrugged, saying ironically, “I doubt it.”

“I doubt I want to talk to this Charlotte.” 

“I doubt you would.”

Alexis gave him a look saying, “Why do you say that?”

“She and I...” Laing began but then he cleared his throat as though to trail off to something else. 

Alexis smirked at him saying, “Did you two used to fuck?”

Laing looked at her with irrevocable offense but that didn’t stop her from continuing to grin knowingly at him. 

Laing could try to lie to her and say that he and Charlotte were just friends. But the implied status of the introduction between her and Charlotte already being hastily discouraged and the information about Charlotte having already been divulged freely gave the psychologist a good indication of what he and Charlotte used to be. 

“At one point, yes,” Laing returned dismissively, getting to his feet and getting dressed for the day.

Sensing the sudden change of mood, Alexis tilted her head to the side, perplexed.

“You don’t want me to meet her because you think I would be jealous, don’t you?” Alexis inquired as she gathered herself to her feet as well.

Laing said nothing, only further proving her point.

“Oh please,” Alexis laughed, “I was pretty civilized in front of your wife, Robert. Why would I act any different towards some girl you fucked a couple of times.”

“Only once,” Laing corrected. 

Alexis shrugged saying, “Do you like her?”

“As a friend, yes.”

“Do you like more than me?”

“Of course not.”

Alexis shrugged again saying, “I don’t think we have a problem then, Dr. Laing. The ball is still in your court.”

Laing smirked at her, reasonably happy with her logic. How many times had he been in that argument with another woman about his platonic interests for other females and getting stirred up in other people’s jealousy and emotions? Then again, Laing supposed he might have given Alexis more credit.

Her career revolved around other people’s emotions and dictation of good or bad sense. 

“I’m going to go into work before the weekend is out,” Alexis told him as she pulled her cocktail dress from two nights before over her head and smoothed out the wrinkles. “I have a briefing tomorrow morning and I won’t have any other time to grade the midterms before the afternoon.”

Laing nodded, having no argument about that.

“I may go in with you,” Laing stated. “I have to prepare another demonstration tomorrow afternoon.”

“More cadavers to open up? More skulls to split?” joked Alexis, winking at him as she clumsily slipped into her heels. 

“Sounds demonic when you say it like that,” Laing pointed out, dressing in dress pants and a white shirt. 

Alexis’ heels clicked the floor as she stood in front of him, buttoning his shirt and then wrapping a tie around the back of his neck and slipping the knot in four simple, liquid movements. Laing imagined that she might have been another doctor or businessman’s wife as easily as she slipped into the motions of one. 

There was a brief moment as Alexis tugged on his tie, making sure it didn’t slip from its knot. Her eyes cast shadows of respect and admiration, smiling up at him.

“There,” she said, brushing her fingers over his shoulders. “Handsome as ever.”

Laing grinned at her, only proving her point.

“Come,” Laing told her as he placed his hand on the small of her back. “I’ll take you home.”

Alexis turned and they walked out of the apartment with Laing closing and locking the door behind him.

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I have no idea how if this story will become a completed story so hold onto your knickers because it's about to get pretty wild!


End file.
